Eight years later, as the White House presses for new refineries to meet rising demand and cool record fuel prices, the tribes of Fort Berthold are still waiting for a federal permit to build their plant.

"We have answered the call," said Horace Pipe, a petroleum geologist formerly with the Bureau of Indian Affairs and now in the forefront of the movement to build the refinery. But it will be at least another 15 months before they receive initial approval from the Environmental Protection Agency, he said.

"I understand the EPA wanting to err on the side of caution... But we haven't had a refinery built since 1976 and the codes are outdated," said Pipe.

The slow-moving project reflects a daunting US permitting process that many savvy oil companies have said is the reason the United States is facing record fuel bills and an unprecedented crunch in production capacity.

The last refinery built on US soil was Marathon Oil's 245,000 barrel per day plant in Garyville, Louisiana -- and that was nearly 30 years ago.

The intervening years have revolutionized the technology of refineries, traditionally heavy-polluters. New ones are cleaner, more-efficient plants, experts say, leaving federal environmental permitting procedures out of date.

"Emissions would be less than that from the University of North Dakota," said Bob Wolley, president of Triad, a Canadian-based engineering and processing consulting firm which designed the refinery.

Unlike other locations, a refinery on Indian lands would require no permits from state governments, theoretically streamlining a stringent process.

Pipe said that during a visit to Washington D.C. in November, he met with senators, congressmen, members of the Department of Energy and the Department of the Interior, all of whom expressed interest in getting the refinery built.

EPA HOGTIED

The new refinery would run synthetic crude oil made from Canadian oil tar sands coming down via an existing pipeline near the reservation.

This feedstock would maximize the amount of gasoline, jet fuel, propane and diesel the refinery could produce, and burning natural gas as the power source would keep particulate emission levels lower than those from existing refineries.

The Environmental Protection Agency, watchdog of the US environment, has said it is keen to support President Bush's initiative to expand US refining capacity. But is bound to current permitting processes.

"The certainty and simplicity of legislation is preferred over regulation and litigation, which is why the President has asked Congress to act quickly on his request that will allow us to build and expand refineries to meet our rising fuel demand for the good of the country and its consumers," Eryn Witcher, press secretary for the agency, told Reuters.

Bush has repeatedly called on Congress to create legislation to speed up permitting, and has offered former military bases to oil companies seeking refinery sites.

"We are doing everything we can," said Carol Campbell, of the EPA's District 8, which is based in Colorado and has jurisdiction over the project.

Triad's Wolley said one aim of the refinery, slated to produce 15,000 barrels per day of fuel, was to make it minimally intrusive.